Man Wanders Brooklyn Street on Fire After Escaping Basement Blast

Yesterday afternoon, a man reportedly smoking a hookah in his Brooklyn basement accidentally set himself on fire and sprinted out into the street, where he wandered around for nearly a minute—most of his clothes melted off, according to reports—until witnesses were finally able to extinguish the flames.

The incident happened on McDonald Ave., under the elevated F line in Borough Park. From WABC:

A liquid used in connection with smoking hookah ignited, and some sort of explosion happened. A man, believed to be in his 20s, was inside. He possibly rented the lower level for business.

Witnesses said he ran across the street, completely ablaze, before several Good Samaritans jumped in to lend a life-saving hand.

The man's clothing was literally burned off his body, and firefighters were on the scene in minutes. But it was the work of two men — a truck driver and a businessman — who sprung into action, got him on the ground and put out the flames.

"I hung up the phone and I started chasing him,"Alex Mayer told WABC. "And I'm like, 'Drop and roll! Drop and roll!' I caught up with a half block up, when he finally dropped."

Mayer told the New York Post that the man's hair and clothes were mostly burned off. "I don't know if he was bald or not but he definitely didn't have any hair left now," Mayer said. "His lips were white. A lot of his clothing melted."

The man was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center, where he's in critical condition.